NHS crisis deepens as nursing union plans ‘mega strike’ in England
England’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.
The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far.
And junior doctors warned on Saturday they might coordinate action with the RCN if the nurses’ union won a fresh mandate for further strikes.
“Coordinated action in the future is definitely something we would consider,” said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee. Options could include action on the same dates as nurses or alternating dates.
He said: “Like doctors, nurses have had cuts in pay in real terms. We are different professions, but we are basically fighting for the same thing. If it is able to be done in a way which maintains safety but increases the pressure on the government, it is something we would be willing to consider.”
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said in an interview on Sky News on Saturday that coordinated strike action would be “completely unprecedented” and “uncharted territory”. The RCN has said it is not planning at present to coordinate action with doctors.
The RCN’s high-stakes strike action decision follows its announcement on Friday that its members had rejected by 54% to 46% a government pay offer of a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year, despite the union’s leadership recommending its approval.
With feeling running high among many nurses that
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